According to those political bloggers out there, the current Malaysian government is a rotten lot - full of corruption, ineffectiveness and untruthfulness.
It does make me wonder, is it only the Badawi led government this bad? Or it had been this bad all the while, only that then nobody have blogs to vent their feelings? I do feel that the latter is nearer to the truth.
Another trend is that these bloggers surely but certainly began to put their words into actions and entered themselves into the political fray. Because they felt that they can make a difference. This lead me to wonder, how will they fare while in the hot seat? Will they be able to do better?
Will it be a case of Mean Girls? In Mean Girls, Lindsay Lohan played a sweet innocent girl who managed to knock the most popular but mean and snotty girl in her school off the perch. In the process, she realised that in order to be the most popular girl in school, she became the new Mean Girl.
These bloggers are certainly full of ideals and beliefs that they can do a better job against these perceived unjust and rampant bad governance. I am sure before Mahathir or Badawi reached the top, they have the same mode of thinking too. But politics is always very dirty game. Once you are in the top, you really need to look after the 'welfare' of those loyal to you and be in constant vigilance to prevent other upstart usurping your position, all while trying to run the country to the best of your ability. The harsh reality is that, the view on top is always very different and everyone wants to be there.
Even though these blogs make entertaining reading and I do salute their noble motives of making the government more transparent, something I don't like about these blogs is that they are too hell-bent to prove that the government is bad that they started picking out bones in the egg. Everything bad is highlighted and in everything good, they see a hidden motive or agenda. What they do is only in reverse of the current government who highlight everything good and black out everything bad.
Can someone with ideals really make a difference? I am sure the answer is yes but it does not have to be in politics. Politics is like a meat machine. No matter what kind of meat you are, once you got in, you will come out as mince meat. It can shape the way you think and act, and somewhere in between, you may lose sight of the goal. There are still so many other ways to make the world a better place.
It does make me wonder, is it only the Badawi led government this bad? Or it had been this bad all the while, only that then nobody have blogs to vent their feelings? I do feel that the latter is nearer to the truth.
Another trend is that these bloggers surely but certainly began to put their words into actions and entered themselves into the political fray. Because they felt that they can make a difference. This lead me to wonder, how will they fare while in the hot seat? Will they be able to do better?
Will it be a case of Mean Girls? In Mean Girls, Lindsay Lohan played a sweet innocent girl who managed to knock the most popular but mean and snotty girl in her school off the perch. In the process, she realised that in order to be the most popular girl in school, she became the new Mean Girl.
These bloggers are certainly full of ideals and beliefs that they can do a better job against these perceived unjust and rampant bad governance. I am sure before Mahathir or Badawi reached the top, they have the same mode of thinking too. But politics is always very dirty game. Once you are in the top, you really need to look after the 'welfare' of those loyal to you and be in constant vigilance to prevent other upstart usurping your position, all while trying to run the country to the best of your ability. The harsh reality is that, the view on top is always very different and everyone wants to be there.
Even though these blogs make entertaining reading and I do salute their noble motives of making the government more transparent, something I don't like about these blogs is that they are too hell-bent to prove that the government is bad that they started picking out bones in the egg. Everything bad is highlighted and in everything good, they see a hidden motive or agenda. What they do is only in reverse of the current government who highlight everything good and black out everything bad.
Can someone with ideals really make a difference? I am sure the answer is yes but it does not have to be in politics. Politics is like a meat machine. No matter what kind of meat you are, once you got in, you will come out as mince meat. It can shape the way you think and act, and somewhere in between, you may lose sight of the goal. There are still so many other ways to make the world a better place.
1 comment:
(Not using my actual account for obvious reasons :D)
I agree and disagree.
While I believe that the blogging platform allows a greater opportunity and freedom for "the other side of news", I personally feel that things have gone from bad to worse recently.
Last time newspaper editors are "invited for tea" in secret for advice about their content; now they are sending blatant gag order to prevent people from talking about the negarakuku song and the islamic state issue at all.
Last time people tried to hide their evidence of corruption and power abuse; but now someone could build an illegal, obscenely extravagant mansion, get away with it proudly, and invite the people to celebrate some occasions.
It has progressed from bad to worse. But is Abdullah worse than TDM? It depends. I guess the rot is sort of a continuation of the already shaken foundation, and if we could score the "bad things" mathematically, we might say it went from -10 to -30 during TDM, and from -30 to -40 during Pak Lah. But who's worse? It would be quite subjective I guess.
Sometimes I do get this fatigue with all the incessant tirade as well. Yes we all know how bad things are, but when some people simply come to you and repeat the same old complaint and lamentation to you, it gets really tiring and unconstructive.
As for the "can the opposition do better if they become the government" thing, we can't tell for sure. But what they are aiming for is more of becoming a powerful watchdog and lobbying force instead of toppling the government in one day. While it's true that the opposition might get corrupted too once/if they are in power; it's never a bad thing for them to become a more powerful counter-balance to the already rotten governance.
I guess in the end, we have to listen to both stories and be critical in every single issue. I read Lim Kit Siang, Jeffooi etc; but that doesn't mean I agree to all their opinions. I do disagree with them quite strongly sometimes.
On a larger scale of things, I believe the more important thing for our country is for people to learn to think for themselves instead of being swayed by propaganda or rooting to a single camp blindly. Once people begin to think, it doesn't matter who's being a hell-bent complainer or a blatant liar - the people would see through them, arrive at an objective truth, and hopefully act in everyone's best interest.
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